"A State Policy Landscape: K12 Climate Action" looks at key areas where states have policies that can support schools in moving toward climate action. This report highlights opportunities for growth by focusing on state-level policy in the following focus areas: (1) mitigation; (2) adaptation; and (3) education. In this report, the…

The author reports on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to look closely at whether the food-service-management companies running many school cafeterias are passing along all the discounts and rebates they receive from their suppliers to the districts that hire them. The plan to probe companies will begin in August, said Alison Decker, a…

From 2009 to 2010, the Community Food Security Coalition advocated for more federal support and funding for farm-to-school programs as Congress considered reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. Farm-to-school initiatives aim to improve the quality and healthfulness of student meals through the inclusion of more fresh fruits and vegetables provided…

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has contracted with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to examine ways to implement the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) into the school meals programs. In the meantime, USDA has requested that state agencies begin proactively implementing the applicable recommendations for the 2005 DGAs…

The federal government spends about $10 billion each year to provide meals to over 30 million students through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. However, a 2007 study estimated that of this amount, $860 million (8.6 percent) in school year 2005-2006 was paid improperly because of errors in the number of meals counted and claimed…

The Team Nutrition (TN) e-Newsletter is published periodically to share TN resources developed by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and/or by State agencies, and to share ideas for promoting healthy eating and physical activity through Team Nutrition at the State and local levels. This February 2009 issue includes: (1) State Developed…

The School Breakfast Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It began as a pilot project in 1966, and was made permanent in 1975. The School Breakfast Program is administered at the Federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service. At the State level,…

Statements were presented by: Honorable Tom Harkin, Chairman, U.S. Senator from Iowa, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Honorable Robert B. Casey, Jr., U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania; Honorable Saxby Chambliss, U.S. Senator from Georgia; Honorable Richard G. Lugar; Honorable Ken Salazar, U.S. Senator from Colorado; Kelly…

The number of overweight and obese children and adolescents has reached epidemic proportions, and recent federal surveys show that most school meals do not meet federal nutrition guidelines. Accordingly, there is growing interest in the nutritional quality of foods available in U.S. schools--and in the role of the government in helping to make…

Recent increases in child obesity have sparked concerns about competitive foods--foods sold to students at school that are not part of federally reimbursable school meals. The nutritional value of these foods is largely unregulated, and students can often purchase these foods in addition to or instead of school meals. Nearly 9 out of 10 schools…

This is traditionally an annual hearing of the Committee with school nutrition managers who travel to Washington, DC. Their representatives testify to the Committee regarding the practical benefits of the nutrition policies under the legislative review of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Testimony was presented by Senators…

The subject of the proper feeding of children of school age involves problems which may be said to be the most difficult as well as the most important of all the problems of human nutrition. The child of school age must grow and must also work. In this he differs on the one hand from the infant, whose work is all ahead of him and on the other hand…